"Elrod, P N - I, Strahd 2 - War Against Azalin e-txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

Animal blood to be sure, and as useless to me for nourishment as salt water is
to quench any other man's thirst, but it did initiate in me a number of intense
reactions. I had to stop a moment and get myself under control. A successful
hunter does not barge recklessly in on his prey lest he risk losing it. I
managed to calm myself enough to be able to study what lay ahead; the only sign
of my inner anticipation was my corner teeth, which stubbornly refused to return
to their normal length.
The croft was a modest stone structure, hardly large enough to be a minor shed
within the curtain wall of my castle, but apparently sufficient for one
shepherd's use. The shutters on the small window I saw from this side were wide
open, an unheard-of thing to do at night in Barovia. Had the fellow gone mad?
I made a wide circle to get around front, using the sheepfold as cover. The
little croft's door was also open and two men stood by the threshold, smoking
their short-stemmed pipes and talking in a most unconcerned way. They did not
look to be shepherds from their gear or their manner.
Their clothing was not typical of traditional Barovian style. Where they should
have been clad in long white shirts with sheepskin vests, their full trousers
tucked into low boots, these two were in short leather jerkins and what looked
to be trunk hose, something I had only seen as drawings in history books. Their
boots were so high as to come up over their knees and trimmed in metal disks on
the sides. Everything about them was foreign, from the kind of swords they
carried to the way they braided their thick pale hair into tufts that stood out
all over their heads.
And above all they were not afraid of the night.
My ears were sharp enough to hear their conversation, but it was difficult to
follow due to their strange dialect. A few words here and there sounded
familiar, if strangely spoken, but I could put no meaning to them. I could have
easily cast a spell enabling me to understand them, but deemed it unimportant
for the time. Once captured, I could question them at my leisure. One of them
made a jest of some sort and the other laughed rather unpleasantly. This
apparently inspired them to action, for they pushed away from the door and
strolled around to the far side of the croft, where I perceived the glow of a
substantial fire.
At fifty feet I was sufficiently distanced from their limited night sight as to
be invisible, and clad, as usual, head-to-toe in black. The only thing white
about me was my face, so I concealed most of it by pulling my cloak up and left
the shelter of the foldЧthe sheep were even more restive for my close
presenceЧparalleling the men.
It was a large cooking fire for a large group of men; I counted fifteen. All
seemed to be from the same tribe or country by their strange dress and speech,
and all were fit and of an age for most armies. Their horses were tethered
fairly close, but fortunately had not yet caught my scent, else they might have
alerted their masters.
The smell of blood came from the slaughter of perhaps a half dozen spring lambs,
whose dressed carcasses were presently being roasted on spits over the fire. My
interest in such provender ended nearly a century ago, but it struck me as being
foolishly wasteful. Two or three lambs at the most should have sufficed them all
for the evening's meal.
Then I saw the shepherd.
Two long poles imbedded in the earth with a cross-piece on top normally served